Potions was his way of life; from a young age, he found himself knowing just what his gift was: a brewing prodigy. He went from brewing in a classroom, to creating his own business, and now teaching in the same classroom he once studied in. Funny how things worked. At twenty-five, fairly young, he was to teach new minds about the power of potions. Seemed silly to leave the CEO position to teach at the university, to to him it seemed perfectly logical. Juggling both jobs seemed perfectly fine with him.

Smirking at the thought, he bit into the quill lightly. He knew that this class was going to be big, much bigger than previous years. Because this year they would have an integrated class, where all majors were to take healing potions. The general education was newly implemented and would save him time from running from one classroom to another and reiterating the same lesson over and over again.

So he was given the biggest classroom that the academy had to offer. Large enough for a whole graduating class. He knew that he would have people of different years here, but at the end of the day they were new to his classroom, and he new to teaching. Perfect amount of chaos to make it interesting. Chuckling he put the last of the phials where they belonged and leaned against the chair.

Today he would challenge them with an oral exam, to see exactly where they stood, and to give them an idea if they were to be able to even pass his class. Oh the torture, it'd be wonderful. Waving his hand, the door unlocked itself allowing students to enter.

Humphrey made his way towards the potions classroom, his steps starting to drag. Potions was a class he had absolutely zero talent in, in fact he often ended up botching them completely. More than once he'd had incidents while brewing, and had even had to order new cauldrons from time to time when he messed them up. Healing Potions was a class that was mandatory for every major now though, so he would just have to stumble through it and hope he passed. If past experience was anything to go by, he had a feeling it would probably be pretty close to going one way or the other.

As he walked in, he saw that he was the first one there other than the professor. In most classes if he was first he would sit in the front, but this time he choose to sit in the back right corner. Maybe if he was as far away as possible, his failing wouldn't be too obvious. Looking up at the professor, he found himself feeling rather intimidated as he gave a small wave. "Hello, professor. Humphrey Williams reporting for duty, sir." he announced, gulping nervously after he spoke.

Jaycie trundled off to class with as much vigor as she could muster. Whilst she normally found Potions rather unchallenging and even interesting to an extent, she was feeling particularly on edge today. Jay felt as if she'd already experienced her daily dose of social contact, and it was barely even lunch yet. The last thing she wanted to do was attend a class brimming with people she didn't know, and to top it all off she'd never met the professor before, either. The huge overhaul of staff was not her favourite way to start the year, she had to admit. As Jay crossed the threshold into the classroom, her palms grew ever clammier.

She chose a seat at random in the huge room, and, after sitting and self-consciously rubbing her sweaty palms on her dress under the desk, Jaycie glanced around to find she'd put herself as far away as possible from the other two souls in the room. Averting her gaze, Jaycie tried to preoccupy her thoughts by taking her notebook, stationary and wand out of her bag and arranging them on her desk more meticulously than usual. Wand at the top, notebook front and center, and quill and inkpot in the top right hand corner. Jaycie spent an unhealthy amount of time straightening her wand where it lay.

She forced herself to pull her hands into her lap and held them together, letting her eyes drift about the room - looking everywhere but at her desk and the people.

Elspeth begrudgingly made her way to the Dungeons, where the Healing Potions classroom was located. She never really liked Potions and found it harder than other subjects, but the class was mandatory and she could do nothing about it. She was torn between wanting to complain and wanting to make a good impression. It was her first year, after all, and she wanted to prove that they made no mistake in inviting her to MAE.

She entered the classroom, but not after hesitating at the door. She nodded a greeting to the professor, then took a seat in the front to the side, avoiding eye contact with the two other students who were already there.

Caelum was, for the most part, indifferent towards his lessons. He neither enjoyed the idea of attending them, nor disliked the idea of attending them - unless they were doing field work, in which case he found himself feeling eager. The mandatory potioneering class was, however, not so exciting, and therefore did not have much of an effect on the blond. Really, the only reason he was interested in this class was because it mixed with all of the students. And that, of course, meant that he could sit with Jaycie - or stare at her, if Jaycie was sitting by a window and Alcy was on her other side.

Today, fortunately, was not one of those days where he was blocked from the pretty blonde by his sister, nor was she seated beside a window that would soon become his worst enemy. The windows were safe from Cae's wrath for another day.

A frown marred his features when he noticed the rigid nature of her posture, the overly neat presentation of her person. Concern fluttered through him as he moved to settle beside her, though he was aware that she typically looked tense and uncomfortable when the company of other people was not welcome. In the past, though, she'd seemed to relax a little when Alcyone and Caelum acted as barriers, warding off random, overly-friendly students. He smiled at the blonde in greeting, but wisely kept his lips pressed together. If she wanted to talk, she would.

Her eyes had now progressed from roaming to darting about the room as it filled. Jaycie inwardly tsked as she felt her heart rate climb and she clenched her hands harder together. She could feel the beginnings of her eyebrows pulling together into a furrow of stress. She would rather be anywhere else but here at the moment, in this slowly filling classroom of strangers and stiff-looking professors.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jaycie caught the movement of someone rather tall just as they lined up with her desk. She turned abruptly to watch them just as they sat down next to her, mind jumping to the worst possible situation when she recognised Cae's face. He smiled at her, but said nothing, and suddenly Jaycie felt twice as calm, like he was a shield between her and the rest of the class. She locked eyes with his kind grey orbs for a moment, not quite relaxed enough to smile or speak yet but definitely relieved for his presence.

Jaycie tried to usher the tension out of her body. She attempted to regulate her breathing, forced her arms to go limp and studied the blank wall in front of her. It was easier now that there was something between her and the world.

Melody entered the classroom. Since the lesson was mandatory for all students she couldn't tell if anyone else in Poitioneering was there yet. Melody looked around without catching anyone's eyes before sitting down.

The room felt tense and she guessed that she wasn't the only student who was nervous. Melody looked at the professor, whoever he was she didn't recongize him. Nor could she tell if he was a particularally strict professor. While she was actually into making potions, she felt very nervous. It was her first class and she had no idea what to expect, although maybe the professor wouldn't give them anything too difficult as some of the students weren't in Potioneering. She could only wait and see.

Ariel was beyond happy that the class she would share with all of the students of MAE was potions; her subject. She would kick ass in this subject, and she would be awesome. Of course, she'd be sweating like hell before her potions were done. They were probably tricky sods. But she understood potions. And when you understood potions, you could correct your errors. So she knew she would be fine in this class. She just hoped she wouldn't give people the impression that she was a know-it-all. After all, this was her subject. If it had been cursebreaking or aurorstuff she'd probably be rubbish. She'd be all right with dragons, but not good. But potions; she would kick ass.

So she walked into the classroom, feeling pretty darned calm and saw that quite a few people had entered. She walked up to one of the front seats (she liked sitting up close, it gave her a better reason to not go drowsy) and looked at the professor. Hot dayum. She blinked. Well, shit, potions might not be a problem, but that there was a distraction! She laughed at herself internally and gave a nod at the professor before pulling her book out. Then she gave a look around. She didn't know who was in what class, so she couldn't tell if anyone of them had her own major. Neither one of them looked like the guy she'd been talking to at the prom either, but he'd probably show up at some point.

She looked down at her book, and decided to read some to make the time pass by until class started.

Potions class was something that she was dreading. It wasn't necessarily the subject, but rather who was teaching. Her brother had basically taken up the job out of spontaneity after the old man had retired after so long. She knew potions was his life and at some point she had considered majoring in it herself. Potions and a Holmes went together like honey and bees. It was second nature, and a gift everyone was given. But she didn't want to live in his shadow forever. She wanted to thrive on her own terms, thus healing seemed like the best option.

Pushing the door open, she realized that the class was definitely bigger than she expected. It was no surprise knowing that it was a general education class, but rather, how quickly it filled up. Shuffling through people, she smiled briefly seeing Adriano, but sat farther in the back, wanting little attention to her brother. She didn't want to be a favorite, she wanted to be different and earn her merit. Sitting down, she put things aside and leaned back ready for class to begin.

Potions?  Easy.  Alcyone might've been studying healing, but she knew that her strongest subject at Hogwarts had always been potions.  A bright smile adorned the features of the smartly dressed woman, who always liked to appear formal when she was attending lessons - of course, she did that through a neat white blouse, and a pleated grey skirt with stockings and knee-high boots.  It was rare to see Alcyone without knee-high boots, or any kind of boots on.  She looked, for all the world, like a smart woman in the business world, and that was how Alcy liked it.  With her head lifted high and her robes swirling about her, she entered the classroom and immediately sought out Jaycie.

Instead, her brown eyes came to rest upon a familiar figure who she'd befriended just as the school year began.  A smile lit up her features immediately, and she moved to sit beside Humphrey - she wanted to be one of his good friends, ever since he'd confessed to not really having them - but when her eyes did flicker towards her brother she realised that Jaycie was...

Tense.  The familiarity of that expression on her features had Alcyone's heart sinking, and with a wave passed to Humphrey as she walked by him, she settled on Jaycie's other side.  The blonde didn't look as tense as she could've, and Alcyone suspected that had something to do with Caelum's presence, but having both Malfoy's either side of her?  Alcy knew that would help, it always had in the past.  When she had the two of them flanking her, Jay had confessed to feeling protected from people outside of herself.  Alcyone reached out to squeeze Jay's hand, grinning at her friend.  "You're alright, Jay.  You're alright." she reassured her friend, not letting go of Jaycie's hand as they sat beside one another.  A concerned look was shared with Caelum.

Healing Potions lesson was starting soon as Aqua was walking towards the classroom where it was happily. She really was excited about it. She used to like Potions lessons in Hogwarts. She did learn there so many good potions but these weren't healing potions most of times. She knew she will learn here some more healing ones. She really wanted toearn them already.

Aqua soon walked into the classroom. "Hello, professor and fellow students," she said there with a smile now. She looked for empty seat. When she spotted one empty table then she walked to it and did take a seat. She now had to wait until professor begans to talk now and tells what to do. She did keep smiling there now. She hoped everything will go good.

Arthur was good at potions, he might have considered a career in it if it didn't often remind him of how he had failed to save his father. He tried not to think about that as he entered the classroom. He briefly greeted the professor before finding a place to sit.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this class but he could see the logic in making sure all the students knew how to do healing potions, it was likely to come in handy for him when he became an Auror. Or if he became an Auror he supposed. He wanted to view his chances realistically and not get his hopes up. He wasn't even sure why he had chosen this specific career path. It had felt strangely right for him. Maybe him knowing had something to do with him being a seer but he doubted that.

Arthur tried to clear his head, he had a lesson to focus on. He didn't want to miss something vital, especially not for something as precise as making potions.

Thana walked in to potions with a small smile and a happy attitude, though it wasn't her absolute favourite class at Salem she had always done her best in it. She also respected the teacher as she had heard much about him, quietly she walked in and sat down next to Adriano , she gave a simply greeting to him, but was more focused on class than talking."Professor" she greeted politely. She understood how potions were needed, it made perfect sense. No matter what degree people did they needed a basic understanding of healing and potions. Professor Mycroft's class gave exactly that.

Pulling out her journal book she pulled out a quill as well and waited, waiting to see what the lesson would bring. She was interested to know what today's lesson would be about, and looked around her slowly. Spotting a few more people she knew including her roommate, she smiled softly before turning her attention back to the front of the class.

Crap. Conner was late. Rushing through campus, he found himself dodging upperclassmen as he rushed down the stairs towards the dungeons. Who the hell made the dorms so far from everything. This was like Hogwarts all over again. And he was not about to do a repeat and nearly fail potions like he had done years prior. This was the second time attempting to try and figure out general potions, and he was going to start off better. Seeing the doors, he pushed forward and stopped a foot away from the door.

Taking breaths in, he tried to calm himself down. Fixing his hair and calming down his breathing, he pushed the door calmly and found a seat in the back. He didn't want to disturb anyone, or cause more attention drawn to him. He'd done enough of that with the old grinch professor of last year.

There was a variety of students, their moods all varied as much as their majors. He knew that general education tended to be harder for some than others. Potions was a clear divider when it came to that, some had the skills and other's didn't. He didn't care for perfection (though he wasn't at all against it) but rather the attempt is what mattered to him. Stupidity was bound to come bouncing into his classroom, and he was sure to squash that fairly quickly. He knew he was young, seven years apart for some, and less for others, but he demanded respect, and he would make it clear there was no joking in his classroom when it came to this lesson.

As every student entered, some greeted him, and he simply signaled each one he heard them. He was not about to waste his voice in meaningless drabble like greetings. Seeing that a sufficient amount had entered, he got up and cleared his throat. He would hate the small talk to start, he abhorred it greatly.

"Good afternoon students, welcome to general education potions. I am a new professor, my name is Mycroft Holmes and let me tell you a bit about myself. I own the international potions business aptly named Holmes industries, and have decided to take a sabbatical to teach here as an alumnae myself. Now this potions lesson is a general one, meaning I will take into consideration your background may not be the strongest. But if I remember correctly you needed and E to even be accepted to this academy so I do expect a lot."

Walking down the rows he took everyone in. Some obviously nervous, some bored like his sister. Putting his hand on her desk he leaned against it, uncaring if he invaded her space.

"I'm not expecting perfection, I'm expecting results, results from your work. You will need potions in every aspect of your life. In dragon training it can be administrating proper potions to your dragons, and to yourself if ever an emergency happens. Healing is a branch of from potions, and in Auror training, a potion can be a life-saving event."

Sitting at the corner of her desk he looked at the classroom and wondered if he could pick someone out to answer his question. Instead he ran his fingers through his hair and figured a general way was best.

"So let's start with something simple. What is potionibus curationum?"

He let out a small smile, hoping to let these kids to be enthused. Hoping someone from another major other than potions since it seemed unfair for people under his major to do so. He wanted something easy, for them, starting off, getting their confidence up then slowly get to tougher territory. He felt that's the fair thing he could do being new and so many fresh faces.

Thana had listened to her Professor and was just about to answer when her friend had raised her hand and answered, she smiled at her. Though she had wanted to answer she was happy for her friend to, and was glad that she did. Thana knew that Brooke wasn't super confident in potions but was sure that her friend was right in her answers. Potionibus Curationum was Italian for Healing Potions and the answers her Roommate had given made her proud.

Already she liked the Professor, he seemed nice enough and was happy for students to build up their confidence. She knew that over the year and over the years it would get a lot harder, but for now she was enjoying the class. As it was Thana had gotten an E in potions, but top marks for Alchemy. Since she had nothing further to add to the question she sat quietly, waiting for the next one.

Mycroft smiled softly at the girl who volunteered to take the question. She seemed a bit nervous at first, worried about probably the lesson plan. He didn't want to scare anyone off just yet, this was the first lesson of the year...for both parties and he didn't want to get over his head. So as she answered, he felt the first genuine smile of the day at her beginning to not only to define what he had asked but gone in a more thorough route.

"Very good Miss.."he looked at his list, "Miss Walters, I appreciate your thoroughness, and are so far the bravest soul in this classroom. As Miss Walters said, the art of potions healing began as far as wizarding culture began. With the likes of the ancestors of Merlin. We will be specializing in general healing potions that you will be able to work in whatever field you are currently doing. I know that in the school you attended you might have concentrated on the classic, Blood Replenishing potions, Pepper ups, etc. But in my class you will be learning to make a simplified potions from the type that my company sells. Unique potions created by myself that will serve a better purpose than other things could."

Getting up from his sister's desk, he walked back to the front and snapped his finger, allowing the writing to begin to appear on his board. As he turned to face them, in neat cursive the ideas that they would be working on began.

"Each lesson, we will concentrate on a certain field. So to be fair, we will concentrate on all majors within the classroom, sans potions, because that's why you have others to teach you the denser work. Today we will start with a simple healing potion. One that helps define just where the areas of infection are. The potion created is named Diagnostics, since I don't expect you to actually know what the potion is, I'll explain it more thoroughly. If we have anyone take the potion, it will glow in the areas that have something wrong with them. Let it be, creature or wizard it aids in the process. Now, can anyone else, tell me how this can be helpful and how it can hinder if we only concentrate on this aspect of healing?"

Placing his hands behind his back he waited for someone to answer.

Listening as Thana found her friend was correct, Thana smiled to herself before listening to the rest of what the Professor had to say. He had said that they would be able to concentrate on all majors Thana liked him even more, that was perfect for her. It meant that she got to identify all the different ways potions were used within the different answers. As he asked his next question Thana made sure to raise her hand, waited to be acknowledged before answering.

"Sir, it would be helpful as it would show where the areas are affected and assist the Healers or relevant persons visual assessment of the person in question. However if there are multiple areas affected it won't show you what area is affected worse. One may have large amounts of non life threatening trauma which gets highlighted, but as it may only be the smallest injury that can be fatal. Especially if it is in the internal organs, the healer may focus on the larger highlighted area rather then the smaller seemingly insignificant injury. " She answered, hoping she was correct. Her answer made sense to her and she hoped that she had got her thoughts correct.

Tess forced herself to keep a straight face as her brother began the lesson. As he began to talk about himself, she rolled her eyes, of course he would mention Holmes Industries, he was proud of that damn brain child of his and how successful it had been under his name. She could feel herself slowly checking out of the class mentally, that is until he began to move. That bastard wouldn't. He wouldn't dare. She growled slightly as he sat on her desk as if he owned it. If she was any younger she would have shoved him from her desk. Who did he think he was? This was her desk. 'And this is his classroom' her conscious reminded her.

As he asked his question, it was easy enough, too easy for her to volunteer. And too distracting for her to even try and answer. Especially if his arse wouldn't get off her desk. Glaring up at him, she forced herself not to pout like the little sister would and instead tapped her foot. Thankfully he moved away and went to the front of the class. She was grateful that he was teaching multiple potions that well under different majors. She had to admit that was smart of him.

His second question was more intriguing. She remembered briefly while the potion was in it's infancy at how many glowing came from his room. She was about to raise her hand, but it seemed that someone beat her to it. She found herself agreeing with Thana before she raised her hand.

"I think that also, the potion doesn't necessarily tell how deep the wound lies. Whether it's working within the mesoderm or even deeper. Thus a drawback would be the need of actual medical staff to help out. Also, it would have to rely on the aspect that the patient can ingest the potion to begin with and if there's nothing in the concoction that could worsen the condition."

Walking swiftly through the castle corridors, Ben new he was late. Not the best way to begin his academy career, but he didn't worry too much. With five years of work ahead of him, Ben didn't see any reason to fret over one day. Plus, he'd been submerged in his own work. He never regretted that.

The class was easy enough to find, especially since the dungeons were like being at home. Being so far down in the levels of a castle, and generally underground, had the wonderful benefit of blocking out input. Something he valued more now, living with his idiot flatmate.

Entering the class, he took a moment to observe. A few faces seemed vaguely familiar, but he didn't give them a second thought. This would be a mix of years and majors for this class, so he was not surprised at the idea that he may know some students from his recent graduation class. His eyes moved over to the professor, perching on a student's desk. Ben's brow quirked up slightly at the informality of such a move. Hmm.

Just as he was moving to find a seat, his eyes caught on the girl who's desk the professor was perched on. His gaze turned icy, and his body stiffened. It made the acknowledging nod he gave the professor look more curt than he had intended, but he turned, taking up the spot next to Conner. He was greatly hoping this class wouldn't be focused on partner work, but if it was, he'd trained his roommate to not be a complete imbecile when it came to following his directions. It may have taken seven years, but he'd trained the boy thoroughly.

Rhian ran through the corridors, inwardly cursing herself the whole way. She'd overslept, and that was the truth. When school had started, she thought she'd be able to keep up her shifts at the pub, and get to class on time. She hadn't anticipated how tired she'd be in the mornings. And this was just the first week!

She neared the classroom and came to a stop. Yes, she was late, but there was no reason to make a complete scene if it could be avoided. Especially since she knew the professor. Well...she'd met him a few times. Rhian honestly had no idea what the older Holmes thought of her. Their parents had made it very clear that they didn't accept Tess's friendship with a 'lesser' person, but Mycroft...he was a wild card. She could only assume that he was similar to them, although he'd at least shown more tact about the situation thus far.

Opening the door, she slipped in as quietly as possible. It didn't take her long to find Tess. Unfortunately, Mycroft was perched on top of her desk. Swallowing thickly, she steeled herself for the slight embarrassment she knew was likely to come her way. She walked steadily over to the empty chair beside Tess, muttering a quiet, "Morning, Sir."